Scholarships

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“Your generosity inspires me to work hard and do my best. Thank you for your support for my educational expenses and making my dreams closer to realization.” Marco Dominguez, NVC Foundation Scholarship Recipient

Napa Valley College Foundation is fully committed to helping our college bound students have success beyond high school. We know that an educated community is a richer community, both literally and figuratively. Contributions can be made payable to the Napa Valley College Foundation, 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway, Napa, CA 94558.

Scholarships have been established through the generosity of businesses, associations and individuals. These scholarships reward student achievement, encourage student leadership and accomplishment, and provide needed financial assistance.

Scholarships have been instituted to honor or remember family, friends or organizations. Some scholarships are created to provide trained professionals in needed fields of study. For whatever reason, financial assistance helps students receive the necessary education to compete in today’s world.

Each year the Napa Valley College Foundation (NVCF) receives generous contributions from community members, alumni, and businesses that are designated as scholarships for Napa Valley College students excelling in a variety of academic fields, technical subjects, and/or community leadership/service. With additional scholarship support through the NVC Foundation Endowment, NVCF has assisted over 600 students in reaching their educational goals through the award of over $1 million dollars in the last eight years.

Creating a scholarship

A scholarship can be established through an endowment or an annual award.

Endowed scholarships

Endowments provide funds for the scholarship in perpetuity, but do require a minimum amount of $10,000 to establish and to activate. Donors may begin a fund with a contribution of $1,000, provided that additional contributions are made to reach the amount of $10,000 within a five-year period. Once a scholarship fund reaches permanent status, one year is needed to accumulate income sufficient to fund the scholarship award. Prior to activation of the scholarship, all annual interest and earnings from the investment of the fund will be returned to the principle to help achieve the minimum specified amount. A scholarship may be awarded in the academic year a fund is established, only if the donor(s) augments the account by an additional amount that is specified for the scholarship award. If minimum funding ($10,000 or more) is not accomplished within five years after the initial contribution, all accumulated contributions will be placed in a pooled NVCF scholarship endowment fund (a fund which provides awards to high school, continuing and transfer students). Endowed scholarships:1. are funds restricted for scholarships, generally awarded to students on an annual basis each May. 2. allow a donor to establish the criteria for selection of the scholarship recipient(s). 3. share in the annual distribution of earnings generated by NVC Foundation investments.

The amount of the scholarship to be awarded depends on the amount of the endowment. For example: A $10,000 endowment will generate approximately $300-$450 each year.

Investment of the principal of each endowment shall be handled in accordance with Foundation investment policies, with the goal of achieving maximum earnings for each fund. Written records of the performance of each endowment are kept in the NVC Foundation office.

Annual scholarships

The minimum annual scholarship award amount is $300. New annual scholarships of $500 or higher may be named to honor or memorialize an individual. Annual scholarships are:

generally awarded in the academic year the money is received by the Foundation (unless otherwise specified).

expendable funds and do not share in the distribution of earnings.

allow a donor to establish the criteria for selection of the scholarship recipient(s), or give the NVC Scholarship Committee the opportunity to award the scholarship to a deserving students who would not otherwise be selected.

designated with criteria for acceptable use of funds with the assistance of NVC Foundation staff before funds can be distributed.